No U.S. Military Role in Libya, Trump Says, Rejecting Italy’s Pleas

President Trump said on Thursday that he would not give the American military a direct role in helping stabilize war-ravaged Libya, rejecting years of pleading by Italy for more assistance in stemming African migrant traffic into Europe.

Mr. Trump’s comments came during a White House news conference with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy, who implored the United States to step up its “critical” involvement in Libya, a former Italian colony.

“We need a stable and unified Libya,” Mr. Gentiloni, who has been in office since November, said, discussing a conflict that has sent thousands of asylum seekers across the Mediterranean to Italy and other European countries. “A divided country, and in conflict, would make civility worse.”

In his scripted opening remarks, Mr. Trump thanked Italy’s leaders “for your leadership on seeking stabilization in Libya, and for your crucial efforts to deny ISIS a foothold in the Mediterranean,” adding, “You fought hard.” Ansar al-Shariah, an affiliate of ISIS — the Islamic State extremist group, based in Syria and Iraq — has been operating in Libya since 2012.

But the president — who was not wearing an earpiece that would have allowed him to understand Mr. Gentiloni’s challenge, issued in Italian — quickly contradicted his guest.

“I do not see a role in Libya,” Trump said. “I think the United States has, right now, enough roles. We’re in a role everywhere.”

Mr. Trump did not, however, rule out involvement in the effort to root out Islamic militants in Libya and other countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

“I do see a role in getting rid of ISIS. We’re being very effective in that regard,” he said. “We are effectively ridding the world of ISIS. I see that as a primary role, and that’s what we’re going to do, whether it’s in Iraq or in Libya or anywhere else. And that role will come to an end at a certain point.”

The conflict in Libya — which began with the killing of the country’s longtime dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, in 2011 — has divided the desert nation into warring regions, with Islamic State-linked fighters dominating the western part of the country.

In 2016, President Barack Obama said that not preparing for the chaos that was certain to follow the United States’ military intervention in Libya was probably the worst mistake of his presidency.

The meeting on Thursday was Mr. Trump’s first with Mr. Gentiloni, and took place a month before the president’s planned visit to Sicily for a Group of 7 summit meeting, a gathering of the world’s seven most developed economies.